Desperately seeking a great gift idea for an irascible uncle or I-don't-want-a-thing niece? Pound for pound and dollar for dollar, books cannot be beat for an offering that is both personal and universal--and 2017 has been great to us, bookwise. Here are three books I … [Read more...]

My cousin Marnie and I weren’t particularly close growing up. This was a function of age and geography—I was the oldest of the grandchildren and Marnie was somewhere in the middle, running with the gaggle of the few girls in our boy-heavy clan. Early on, my father had moved his yo … [Read more...]

(Originally published in the San Diego Book Review.)My father came over for lunch one day. “How’s the writing going?”Not well. In fact, not at all. For months I’d been casting about for an idea for my next novel and coming up dry.Dad thought he could solve this problem … [Read more...]

When my first novel was being copy edited, I wasn’t terribly concerned. I'm a good speller, and spell-check finds any little typos, right? I also felt I had a pretty strong grasp on grammatical conventions. Piece of cake, I was thinking.Oh, how I hung my head in shame when th … [Read more...]

I just finished my latest novel, and it’s perfect.Not perfect perfect, of course. It’s honeymoon perfect. It’s sunny, flag-fluttering, best-wave day at the beach perfect. Which is to say, it can’t last.I finished the first draft early last month, and then spent a couple of … [Read more...]

I think we can all agree on this: the ability to express oneself effectively in the written word is a good thing. I would even go so far as to say that for a wide range of professions, it’s one of the most useful skills you can have. It comes in mighty handy in personal matters, a … [Read more...]

I recently had the immense pleasure to be the keynote speaker at a writing conference for middle and high school students, who were more serious about their work than many adults! Their questions were wonderful and numerous, and I left feeling so inspired. The following is an … [Read more...]

Last month I had the pleasure of serving on a panel at Grub Street’s Muse and the Marketplace Conference. My “Researching Fact for Fiction” co-panelists were Lisa Genova (Still Alice, Left Neglected and Love Anthony), Maryanne O’Hara (Cascade) and B.A. Shapiro (The Art Forger). Th … [Read more...]

January 1 hails not only a new year, but also a new era for the 104-year-old Boy Scouts of America (BSA). It’s the day a new policy allowing openly gay boys to join took effect. While gay adults are still prohibited from troop leadership, this historic first step toward inclusion … [Read more...]